Matt Karash: 2013-14 Carolina Hurricanes Season Preview (Pt 2): "First Team Defense"

Matt,

I think you hit the nail on the head again. I cant stress enough how important a tighter defensive system will be to the success of this years team. As you said this is NOT just Dmen and the goalie, but every skater on the ice at any given time. The lack of a preseason and training camp last year killed us. Not having a chance to learn the system and having less than spectacular organizational depth (lots of fringe AHLer's who cant crack an NHL job at 22, 23, 24, 25 years of age,etc) proved to be our demise.

We don't have many carry over depth that won jobs and made the team (the exceptions being Bellemore, Nash and Sutter). Is this good or bad?? I lean towards it being good. As we saw, Boychuk couldn't cut it, Dalpe and Welsh couldn't cut it and were jettisoned. I'm optimistic that the full training camp and preseason for the players we brought in will be a step above any of our current AHL depth options. Gerbe beat out Dalpe and won the job, Sutter beat Welsh and won the job, Dvorak (who should be signed before Friday) beat out the depth and won the job.

For me, the question is Gerbe's offensive upside. No group of players is going to shutdown the opposing teams top line every night. That's going to require at least decent production from Dwyer/Gerbe. Can they be 30-40 point players?

For me, the question is Gerbe's offensive upside. No group of players is going to shutdown the opposing teams top line every night. That's going to require at least decent production from Dwyer/Gerbe. Can they be 30-40 point players?
- notwalnc

I think your question and assessment are dead on. While a 0-0 tie is a win for this line, you cannot shoot for that every night playing against the elite players in the league.

Unfortunately, I think that last season might have proven that Dwyer's ceiling is something like 25-30 points. Even thrust into a more offensive situation with Skinner and JStaal, he just did not score that much (16 pts in 46 games). His offense is mostly limited to scoring off the rush on breakaways using his speed/ability to create turnovers (exactly how he scored in the last preseason game). His ability to create or finish in the offensive zone is limited. But while not being an offense-heavy 2nd line center Jordan Staal has proven that he can score at least 50ish points at the NHL level and he did this without 1st line power play minutes or offensive-oriented line mates which is important. And Gerbe as you mentioned is the wild card. Can he score some himself to the tune of 45-50 points and help boost his line mates? If so, I think the team has a chance to get a decent mix of 0-0 and 1-1 ties to keep the team in games and put the ball on the tee for EStaal's line which was utterly dominant for long stretches last season.

DEFENSE...This is the biggest key to a successful season! If the last two preseason games (in particular) are an indication of how this team plays in it's own end...we're gonna surprise some teams! As you said, the (top) defensive SIX are HUGELY important! Jordans line, and the 1st D-pairing PLUS Ward, will play a lot, and give us a chance to win most games. Eric's line will match most teams total offensive output on most nights IMO...AND IF the third line provides some consistent secondary scoring...this will be a good team!

since dvorak signed does that change anything, also i see lindholm is slotted on the fourth line......i think he would be better suited in the ahl rather than playing fourth line minutes